


Follow the White Rabbit

by Mangacat



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-18
Updated: 2010-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-14 03:23:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2176206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mangacat/pseuds/Mangacat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>2500 A.D. The most legendary hacker of the century goes by the codename Merlin. Everybody wants to find him, nobody has ever seen his real face. Now Arthur Pendragon is on his case and he will not rest until he’s found Merlin and brought him down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Follow the White Rabbit

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This particular version of Arthur and Merlin belongs to the BBC and I do not earn any money for this work of fanfiction.
> 
> A/N: This is a little AU ficlet from 2010, archived here from LJ.

Arthur stood in his office, flicking nimble fingers over the controls at his desk while his eyes stared relentlessly out of the big panorama window that served as a perfect vantage point to overview the big core generator of the single most important piece of machinery on the planet. The reports he had gotten not ten minutes ago with the latest readings from the auxiliary servers showed another untracable breach. He didn’t need to ask who was behind it or look at the tell tale electronic trace the perp had left in his wake. The Pendragon family had been guarding and maintaining the Cybernetic Analytical Meta-Electronic Live Operational Tritiumserver – or C.A.M.E.L.O.T in short – for generations. They made sure that the system that had been organizng the infrastructure, biorhythm, social and material logistics of billions of people for more than a couple of centuries stayed up and running, but even he himself wasn’t sure _exactly_ how it worked. The original plans and data transcription about the built and the programmers had been lost through time or were encrypted in ancient and therefore unreadable formats. Still, they couldn’t exactly take it apart to see what made it tick even though that was what Arthur had been dreaming of ever since his father had taken him to see the magnificent structure in front of his window for the first time. 

 

Now he wasn’t that little boy anymore, but the task leader of the special forces unit that made sure the system was well-protected from every outside meddling even though it came with a near unbreachable set of electronic protections. Ordinarily, their work included only the identification of failed tries – and there was a considerable number of them – and apprehending the perpetrators. There was one hacker though, and only this one that had ever made it not only into the system itself but out again without leaving so much as a fingerprint besides his telltale signature. The signature was the image of a falcon that would suddenly appear on one of the systems many monitors and the only lead they had ever had on this mastermind.

“ _Mer_ lin. Again. This simply can’t go on like that.”

He was taunting them. Never meddling with C.A.M.E.L.O.T to the point of actually causing a disruption in the system, in and out before he could even be registered, taking little – only a few redirections that couldn’t exactly be traced anywhere in particular – and never letting anyone else in on the data that was compromised as far as they could tell. 

 

This wasn’t a professional criminal trying to gain control of the earth’s supply systems or at least siphoning off more than they were due, it was a was a cyber-genius showing them that their impenetrable system was vunerable just because he could. Merlin would post an anonymus and untracable report of his latest stroll in a blog from somewhere over the world, accessible to the important names in the business, leaking it out to various sources and the Pendragon Foundation would have to deal with a heap of unfavourable press again. Arthur waved the holographic reports away with a gesture and leaned back against the window knocking his head against the cool glass with a frustrated frown. He just couldn’t bear it that this person whoever he actually was had been making a fool out of him for years now, it was time to stop this game of cat and mouse once and for all. He straightened his jacket and went to his father’s office. 

 

“There’s been a new breach in the system this morning, I thought you should know.”

His father looked up from his historical paper files he liked to examine so much and set them aside with extra care. 

“I’ve been informed already and I know what we’re looking at.”

“Then you know that we can’t very well let this continue like that. He has us chasing our own tail while he goes traipsing through the most confidential data and we haven’t come any closer to catching him today than we were half a decade ago. Will you finally agree to sign off the operation and do it my way?”

“Arthur, you know that we can’t leave the official channels with the investigation no matter how much you might like to.”

“And I tell you time and again, if we ever want to get anywhere near this guy, we’ll have to draw him out on his own turf. Are you really willing to go out to the media, announce another incident like this and tell them that we’re not operating like this is anything out of the ordinary? People are worried, Father. They will not take this much longer and you know there’s been movement to take C.A.M.E.L.O.T if we can’t maintain impeccable security!”

Uther steepled his fingers together and sent Arthur a thunderous look, but he knew just as well that what they were facing was no longer a minor issue. 

“Alright, I’ll sign off on your little undercover maneuver, but you know very well that a deep cover like that take months, sometimes years to built or it will be in vain.”

Arthur started, thrown at his father’s acceptance which he had been working at for ages, but he caught himself fast. 

“Leave that to me, I’ll have everything arranged in due time.”

His father held his eyes for a few moments and nodded then in obvious dismissal, going back to his previous occupation. 

 

Of course it took years to built up a cover, a persona in the cyberhacker community that was reputable and trusted – as far as trust ever went in this occupation – but that was exactly what Arthur had been doing ever since he realized that they were never going to be good or fast enough to catch Merlin out in the open. Waiting for the guy to finally make a mistake would cost them their whole operation before an arrest could be made. Therefore, Arthur had made himself a name in the hacker community with relatively simple, but flashy coups that were daring and not easy to pull off, but never so good as to make that paranoid bunch too suspicious. He had traversed through backdoor chatrooms and quasi-legal corners of the cyberspace planting seeds slowly but surely, and he had constructed a provocative image of a rueful admirer, respectful but challenging all the same. He’d seen all of Merlin’s work and knew his style inside out, this was what would lure him out eventually. Now that he had full clearance to devote his whole time to the project, there was only one thing that was left to do. He was going to steal himself a hacking attack.

 

Merlin normally waited a couple of hours before posting his report to give the investigation time to gear to top speed and alert the media that something fishy was going on. Arthur used this customary delay to release his own version of the report, portraying himself as the sole perpetrator and effectively dethroning Merlin that way. He let just enough true data slip into the report to clue anyone who actually _had_ been there in on the fact that he wasn’t just a copy-cat with a stroke of luck, but he didn’t reveal enough to compromise any real valuable data or make it obvious that he wasn’t just talking out of his ass. If he had learned anything over the last years of work it was that Merlin had an ego that was bigger than the continent, and he wouldn’t take kindly to someone stealing his spotlight. Arthur had laid his bait and now he strolled the forums leaving subtle hints that he was looking for info on Merlin. He didn’t actually think that this scheme would lure the man out into the open, he was too good for that, but he hoped that if he shook the right tree something of interest would fall down that gave him a clue as to where he could actually _start._

 

There was a couple of days worth of outrage over the latest breach report, but the bigger conundrum didn’t reach the broad public, it took place in the cyber equivalent of backrooms of clubs and bars and the veritable shitstorm his claiming the deed had kicked up was as much in Arthur’s favour as it could possibly compromise the operation. His father had been impressed to say at least, covering it up with a stern lecture about Arthur building an undercover operation in his free time without any authorization. But Arthur had been careful with his set-up and he was prepared to take anything his father might throw at him if he only got to catch Merlin in return. He had a following on the net already and it would only take time for someone with the right info to pick up on his claim to be a serious admirer of Merlin that had devoted his time to crack his moves and finally succeeded. Arthur was monitoring the chats like a hawk and finally a couple of hours ago he had been contacted by someone who didn’t only claim to have firsthand info about Merlin, but seemed to even check out. He was resolved to keep up the communication for a little longer until he knew that his hook had been swallowed by the right kind of fish and then he would set up a meeting. 

 

~*~

 

Arthur pushed through the throng of gyrating bodies on the dance floor, averting his eyes from the blinding strobe lights and frowning against the smell of sweat, spilled drinks and extravagant perfumes that hovered in the air. The club was high end and one of the trendiest addresses in town, not exactly the meeting place he would have chosen first thing, but his contact had been adamant to set up their personal meeting out in the open in his popular cyber acolyte hang-out and he didn’t want to do anything to chase this one off. This dragonlord5ct was the single legit lead he had ever had on Merlin and he was not going to blow the operation by insisting on a meeting spot that made him more comfortable in his own skin. Arthur checked his digital vambrace one last time for the details and then he leaned at the bar to order two of those frizzy illuminated drinks that were en vogue nowadays. When the bartender finally brought them he nipped at his, found it mediocre but bearable and subtly checked the time to see that it was just five minutes to their designated meeting time. 

 

“Is that drink intended for someone or are you just hoarding for bad times?”

Arthur whipped around to face the man that leaned next to him with his back to the bar, all black tousled hair, luminous blue eyes and a mischievous smile tugging at the edge of his lips. Inexplicable heat suddenly unfurled in his gut while he tried to keep his head clear and in the game. 

“I’m sorry, mate, but I’m waiting for someone.”

Arthur hoped that his casual rebuff would get the guy to leave fast, but no such luck.

“Ah… since this would be kind of the worst pick-up line ever if you followed it up ‘and that just might be you’ I’m assuming that this is my designated drink because you are swordsmaster101 and we’re set to meet… just now.”

Arthur turned his body slightly to the other man and regarded him with new appraisal. Nothing in his tone had indicated that he wasn’t entirely sure of his assertion. He decided to go with the flow since the man had dropped his hacker-alias with such familiarity and pushed the drink over.

“So you say. You like to deal with dragons then?”

The man’s eyes turned smoky and speculative as he extended his hand.

“Fickle creatures as they are, yes I do. Colin.”

Arthur took the proffered hand and shook it briefly with a strong grip. He doubted that it was the man’s real name, but then it wasn’t like he was going to offer his own. “Bradley.”

 

“So, you are the one who had the gal to claim to have hacked C.A.M.E.L.O.T right? I honestly laughed out loud when I read that.”

Arthur didn’t let his surprise at the opening show on his face, but he should have guessed that this guy wasn’t going to be taking bullshit if he was anywhere near as good as to get real dirt on Merlin of all people. He decided to adjust his strategy on the fly, improvisation was something essential to undercover work after all. 

“Yeah?” A contrite smile made its tentative appearance, ”to be quite honest, I didn’t,… hack the system that is.”

That got him a calculating glance and a raised eyebrow. 

“Really now, I hadn’t thought. Why come up with this ridiculous report then?”

Arthur went on, his own footing more confidently now.

“Oh you know it’s not ridiculous, or you wouldn’t have contacted me in the first place when I threw the hooks out. I might be not as good as the mysterious Merlin, but I’m not that bad either. Actually, I came up with the scheme to rile up the community and get someone’s attention.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course, and we’re here now, so I have hopes you can bring me just a little closer to finally contacting the man I’ve dreamt of meeting forever.”

It wasn’t even a lie, he’d been gunning to meet Merlin face to face since he was old enough to understand what the man did. And a small part of him melted in fascinated admiration at the thought. The much bigger part of course wanted him in high-sec lock-up and not seeing the light of day for a very long time, securing his family’s position and the most important system in the world for good. 

 

Colin rolled his eyes and sipped at his drink once more.

“Don’t they all… “

“So, you said you might have information that might get me that. Are you going to help me?”

“Right down to business, are you? And there I thought we’d enjoy our… date a little before it comes down to the tricky parts. But, alright, have it your way, but lets get out of here. Too much noise and too many curious ears all around.”

 

~*~

 

They stepped through the door into a small but luxurious apartment, yet the interior looked… empty somehow, replaceable, with no personal touches. As if the occupant was prepared to up and vanish at a moments notice. Arthur didn’t have a lot of time to case the room though, before he was shoved back against the closed door with Colin right in his face. The situation just took a whole new spin he hadn’t really been prepared for. That thin waif of a man hadn’t looked like the hands on kind of guy that had the strength to handle a broad man like him, but then that was probably the intention all along. 

“So, you think you can lure out the great Merlin with your little charade, is that right?”

Arthur couldn’t answer the question before hot breath on his ear made him shiver involuntarily.

“Then how much are you willing to give?”

 

Arthur’s brain was sluggish and if he hadn’t ordered it before they’d even met, he’d think there had been something in his drink. Still, it took him longer than he should have to get the actual intention behind the question, until a hand snaked up over his back _under_ his shirt. This was the moment where he was supposed to punch the guy in the face and call it quits, but his mind was awash with the temptation that was in front of him and the obsession he couldn’t let go of. This was his only chance and deep in his gut he knew it, he knew it was also a test. The decision, however, didn’t take place in his higher brain functions, the lush lips mouthing at his jaw had his primal instinct take over and catch them with his teeth before they could go further down. He tugged at them lightly, enticing an open-mouthed, messy kiss, his tongue following suit and suddenly he was on the up again and used the leverage of his bigger body to shove them away from the door and against the opposite wall. He had the other man trapped in reversed positions, but he didn’t seem to care about that. Arthur drew back for moments only to breathe: “Everything.”

 

After that, it was stumbling and tumbling through the adjacent door into the bedroom and it was also a battle of tongues, teeth and bruising fingers, ripping at clothes and spreading them carelessly on the floor. Once they were naked, Arthur got unceremoniously shoved into the bed and had barely levered himself on his elbows when his companion followed and raked his fingernails over his chest with a force just short of breaking the skin. A small part of his mind sat back and regarded his frantic actions with righteous indignation and reprimanded their insanity, but each touch was like a burst of heat and arousal racing along his skin and suddenly this didn’t seem like such a bad bargain anymore. He’d wonder about the rest in the morning. Meanwhile the rest of his mind shut down too when he suddenly felt those lips wrapped around him in a tight fit that made his muscles bunch and strain to buck up into that delicious heat. When he looked down, he only saw that unruly black mop and a wink of mischievous blue eyes until the head bobbed up and Arthur could see himself glistening with spit and more.

 

Colin then proceeded to crawl up and pay the same kind of attention to his chest while he settled himself tantalizingly over Arthur’s hips with his legs on either side and moved a little, searching friction against Arthur’s abs. He couldn’t help the breathy moan that left his lips before they were captured again in a bruising kiss. Without warning though, the other man sat up and reached behind himself to take Arthur with a sure grip and position him right. Just as he made the connection, Arthur’s hands flailed out.

“Wait, wait… aren’t you supposed to…”

“Nuh-uh” was all he got before he was encased slowly, but completely in slick tight heat, and could only finish his half sentence with a groan.

“Always be prepared they say.”

The dark-haired man grinned down at him and took his still flailing hands to put them on his thighs. 

“Keep them there.”

Arthur could do nothing but hold on and watch as his partner leaned back supporting himself with his hands and started moving his hips in slow rotations, throwing his head back at the sensations. It was as if he was taking Arthur’s body, not the other way round, manipulating him for his own pleasure only. 

 

When Arthur tried to take control by sliding his hands up to his hips and getting him to move faster, he got a sharp glare and inner walls clenching around him in a warning that had him bite his lip to stifle the scream building in his throat. Soon the teasing stopped though and the other man moved his hands to splay them on Arthur’s chest, brushing deliberately at his nipples while he set a proper pace bearing down with force and finally allowing Arthur to angle his hips to thrust up and deep like he craved it. Their rhythm turned from languid to fast and frantic when Arthur hit something special good and proper for the first time and then there was no holding back. He got impatient with the lack of leverage the position gave him though, so he decided to turn the tables and flip them around in a surprise move that drove him so deep that they both had to still and catch their breath for a moment. They locked eyes and for a split second, he thought he’d seen an unearthly glow, but then the sensations faded a little and the moment passed. Arthur felt wild, out of control in a way he’d never experienced before and it both frightened and invirgorated him. He started to pump his hips with renewed force, sweat dripping from his brow, plastering his hair to his forehead while hands clawed at his shoulders. When he leaned down for a shaky kiss, lips barely touching, Arthur felt the first tremors of his release shudder through him, until his vision was blinded by unrelenting pleasure only moments later. Through his aftershocks, he felt heat splatter against his stomach, seeping into his skin, before he drew back and let himself collapse into a heap on the side. 

 

Arthur slowly came to himself, arms pinned and legs tangled with another persons warm limbs and body and he just barely kept himself from startling awake fully at the realization. He must have dozed off even though he certainly hadn’t planned on that and cursed himself for being so unnaturally careless. Opening his eyes to mere slits, he tried to assess the situation without letting on that he was actually awake, he couldn’t find any immediate danger though. The feel of a warm body turned into the sight of a man with very distinctive features gazing at him from above as if he was mapping out every crevice of Arthur’s face. It should have felt strange, but it didn’t until he caught the exhausted frown on the other man’s face and the endless age-old pain reflected in his eyes. Suddenly, there was a image layered over the man’s face, the very same features, only with much deeper groves marring the youthful face, a ragged beard caked in dust and mud and other unspeakables, grey pallid skin betraying exhaustion and trial. The image shattered though, right in the moment Arthur was caught out on being awake and an indifferently cheerful expression replaced it instantly. Arthur would have marvelled at that, had he not had the weirdest night of his life. Only, it wasn’t over since he had not yet gotten what he was here for.

 

“So, was that satisfactory as a price for whatever information your have?”

The jibe earned him a snort and a mirthful grin.

“Certainly, and I don’t know why I’m surprised… either way, just one more question,” his tone changed from bantering to dead serious as he waited for Arthur to nod, “what is it that drives you to such lengths just to find a possible lead to the great Merlin?”

Arthur took a breath, stalling for a moment to think about how much truth he would have to put into the answer to pass _this_ test. He looked up at his companion who had his head propped up on his hand and decided on the first and foremost thing he could come up with. 

“Honestly? Most of all I want to know how the hell he does it. Getting into an iron-clad system time after time and not only not getting caught, but not leaving it open for anyone else to even pick up a trail, not even the people who _run_ it.”

“Ah,… interesting question. More easily answered than anyone has ever thought of either. I programmed myself a backdoor.”

 

The content of that sentence took a couple of seconds to make sense in Arthur’s mind, but then the unexpected revelation floored him on so many more levels than he had even thought possible, left him breathless and flailing. Suddenly, everything he had ever tried to work out about those breaches and the strolls through the system Merlin took just… clicked. And then he remembered that C.A.M.E.L.O.T had been actively running for over a couple of centuries already and world lurched to halt. 

Arthur sputtered listlessly: “But if… that is only the creator… and that’s…”

With a chuckle the other man slid over him again to rest on his abdomen, hair hanging into his face shaggily and wriggled his fingers in front of Arthur’s eyes.

“It’s a kind of magic.”

And then a second important realization hit. _‘I pr…’_ This wasn’t just any … this was…

_ Merlin. _

 

“Oh Arthur, you are perfectly adorable when you are speechless.”

This finally jolted Arthur into action and before his brain could ponder any more of the absolutely unbelievable things that were happening to him right now, his body had taken the liberty of freeing the plasma cuffs he had stored in his digital vambrace and snapping them onto the wrists of his unsuspecting opponent with lightning speed. 

“You are under arrest for serious breach of planetary security and unlawful access to high-level clearance systems, you have the right to…”

The words and cuffs didn’t quite incite the expected reaction though, which might have had something to do with their current positions, but it had nothing to do with way Arthur’s voice broke off and his breath hitched when the bane of his existence leaned in close and whispered:

“Why, Mr. Pendragon, if you wanted to tie me up, all you had to do was ask.”

The warm breath caressing his lips send an unbidden shiver down Arthur’s spine, but then Merlin’s blue eyes turned into molten ice that pierced right through him.

“I’ve waited ages upon ages, drifting, guarding, giving humanity all the means not to destroy themselves for another century or four and you think that a pair of shackles is going to _hold me back?”_

 

Arthur couldn’t answer his mind reeling again with all the implications when Merlin sat back up, regarding his restraints with obvious contempt. 

“I’m so sorry, honey, but I can’t stay for the party I’m afraid. But promise to be good and I promise this isn’t the last we’ve seen of each other.”

With those words and another indistinct flash of his eyes, his body slowly faded, turned from solid to translucent in moments and vanished completely after a heartbeat. It left Arthur amidst cold sheets in a strange room, feeling bereft and so utterly alone as if there was suddenly a part of him missing he hadn’t even known was there to begin with. Or maybe he’d just become aware of the hole… 

Either way, his night _had_ ended with answers. Lots of them. And the realization that he wasn’t even close to knowing the right questions. 

With a bated breath he lay there when the first rays of the morning sun fell through the window, illuminating the little flecks of dust hovering in the air. 

Even so, around him remained silence.


End file.
